


Vacation

by lillianmmalter



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Camping, Canon Disabled Character, Established Relationship, F/M, Hiking, Howard Stark Being Inappropriate, as if Howard would let them do anything else, well glamping really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-05 05:53:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10299089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lillianmmalter/pseuds/lillianmmalter
Summary: Peggy Carter's first real vacation since before Pearl Harbor doesn't quite go according to plan, but at least she has Daniel by her side. If only he would stop making her feel guilty for not being ready to say those three little words.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [truth_renowned](https://archiveofourown.org/users/truth_renowned/gifts).



> This story takes place approximately two months after the end of season 2. It's not as polished as I'd like (I don't even know how many times I've changed directions on this thing, and it probably shows more than I can see), but I've been working on it off and on for so long that I either need to start posting it or scrap it completely, and there's enough here I like that I'm posting it.
> 
> You're welcome for all the porn.
> 
> Thanks to Ellix and [irisdouglasasiana](http://archiveofourown.org/users/irisdouglasiana/pseuds/irisdouglasiana) for beta services. This wouldn't be half as coherent without you.
> 
> Also thanks to [em2mb](http://archiveofourown.org/users/em2mb/pseuds/em2mb) for posting [this](http://em2mb.tumblr.com/post/145379256543/i-loved-the-research-you-made-on-daniels-leg-and) right about the time Peggy and Daniel first decided they really wanted to have sex onscreen, the horny jerks.

 

Vacations - real vacations, Peggy knew - were meant to allow the person taking them to unwind from the grind of their lives and relax for a while.

Relax. Right.

Peggy wasn’t sure she knew the meaning of the word in this context.

A well-brewed cup of tea on a quiet morning, a hot bath after a long day, and, more recently, her head resting on Daniel’s chest at night after a vigorous round of lovemaking were Peggy’s go-to forms of relaxation. They were all small things, things that could usually be worked into all but the most trying of days. Especially the cup of tea. It was sometimes the only way she kept her sanity during the war, and most certainly how she managed to keep it afterward.

But a vacation was meant to be more than that. A full week of more than that.

She and Daniel had plans to drive out to Sequoia National Park, in part because the eight year old girl in her was curious about the giant trees, and in part because the two of them thought camping would be a good way to be perfectly alone for a while. But that couldn’t happen until Daniel wrapped things up at the office, and Rose had quite forcibly removed Peggy from helping to chivvy him along.

Unable to think of anything else to do with herself for the afternoon, Peggy had taken Howard’s suggestion to sit by his pool and read what turned out to be a terribly written erotic novel. Which was a mistake on more levels than one.

“Mr. Jarvis,” she called from the cool sanctuary of Howard’s house. “I am in need of some assistance.”

“Yes, Miss Carter?” he said, coming to meet her from the direction of the kitchen. “Were you in need of some refreshments before dinner perhaps? I’ve just made a lovely - oh, dear lord!”

“I take it from your reaction that it looks at least as bad as it feels.”

Jarvis circled her, taking in the full extent of her painfully reddened back and legs, and gave her a wry look when he got back around to her face. “Well, it will certainly make your planned road trip with Chief Sousa a bit more problematic.”

“Do you have anything that might help?”

“I believe we have something made from aloe vera that Mr. Stark acquired for just such a dilemma. Stay here.”

Peggy sighed as he left, feeling increasingly awkward standing in the middle of Howard Stark’s living room wearing nothing but the ridiculous bikini he had provided for her.

She knew sunbathing by the pool was a stupid idea the moment Howard suggested it, but Ana had been so encouraging that it would do her good, she acquiesced. It was something people supposedly did while on vacation after all, especially here in California.

They were all fools, the whole sun-loving lot of them. She must be at least as red as her lipstick. It was a terrible way to begin a vacation.

Footsteps echoed behind her and Peggy closed her eyes in relief. Jarvis was coming to rescue her.

“Damn, Peg. When I suggested you sit by the pool I didn’t mean for you to actually cook yourself.”

Peggy spun around, then hissed as the motion made heat flare up over half her body, the tight, pinching sensation that accompanied it making it impossible to ignore.

“Howard, I’ve half a mind to give you a good fist to the eye right now,” she ground out, giving him her fiercest glare. “If it weren’t for you and that ridiculous book I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Howard quickly stepped back, putting more distance between them, but he smirked as he did so.

“I take it you liked it then?”

“Liked it? It’s the most preposterous thing I’ve ever subjected my eyes to, and I’ve had the displeasure of seeing you naked.”

That wiped the smirk off his face.

“Well that’s not very nice.”

“Neither is this sunburn.”

Jarvis chose that moment to return to the room carrying a bottle of something Peggy hoped would ease the pain she felt, which was getting worse by the minute. Ana quickly followed behind him carrying a glass jug full of milk.

“I’ve got it!” Jarvis said, raising the bottle slightly as he approached. “And Ana has also suggested a milk bath might be in order.”

“It is something my grandmother used to swear by for healing burns. I am sure it should at least help to soothe the pain,” Ana said.

“That sounds marvelous,” Peggy said.

“You know, Peg, I feel just terrible for suggesting something that got you hurt like this,” Howard said, sticking his hands in his pockets.

“As you should,” Peggy said.

“I could help you with that bath, if you’d like.”

All three of them stared at him, and for a moment Peggy seriously considered bashing something heavy over his head. That would take the smirk out of his mustache. If only she wasn’t worried about what raising her arms like that would do to the skin of her shoulders.

“Really, Mr. Stark, where are your manners?” Ana said. “Sometimes you go too far.”

Howard actually looked abashed. “Ah, Peg knows I’m just joking around.”

“Maybe so, but you are still being inappropriate. Now, shoo,” Ana said, actually making shooing motions with her free hand. “We must tend to Miss Carter and she doesn’t need you hovering around her making her feel even more awkward than she already must.”

There was a moment Howard looked like he might protest, but Ana raised an imperious eyebrow and he wilted like a scolded schoolboy.

“I’ve got things I need to do down in the lab anyway,” Howard said, somewhat unconvincingly, and left. Jarvis was doing a bad job hiding a smirk at his employer’s expense.

“Come,” Ana said when Howard left, “Edwin can draw a cool bath for you to soak in and then one of us can help put some ointment on your back. Although, I have to say, from looking at you we might not have enough.”

“I shall go acquire more once we have you settled,” Jarvis said.

“Thank you, both of you,” Peggy said.

“Of course. It is no problem at all,” Ana said.

The three of them made an odd caravan to Peggy’s room. While Jarvis and Ana led the way with purpose, Peggy practically waddled behind them, mincing her movements on stiff limbs she had little desire to bend or move. She certainly didn’t remember any of her childhood sunburns being this painful, but then none of them had been quite so extensive either.

In no time a cool milk bath was drawn in her suite’s connecting bathroom and Jarvis left her and Ana to figure out just how to get her into the tub.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a situation where I’ve wanted to bend my legs less,” Peggy confessed.

“A small price to pay for relief,” Ana said. “Now, what do you think? Bathing suit on or off?”

“Off,” Peggy said decisively. “If I never have to see this ridiculous thing again it will be too soon.”

Ana chuckled and began helping her to undress. “Did you fall asleep in the sun?” she asked. “I confess there have been times I’ve been tempted to do so myself since we arrived, but I freckle appallingly, and it is not worth the risk.”

“No, I was reading.” Peggy cautiously stepped into the tub and eased herself down into the milky water. “Oh, that’s heavenly,” she breathed.

“It must have been a good book to have you so distracted.”

“It was terrible, actually. I’ve never been much of one for fiction, and even less for the kind of smut that was in this one.”

Ana looked at her sharply. “You were reading a dirty novel?”

“Howard,” Peggy said, raising an eyebrow at her. Ana rolled her eyes and smiled.

“I am surprised you even picked it up.”

“So am I, to be honest. I’m even more surprised at myself that I kept reading after the first bad sex scene.”

“Now I am curious just what is in this dirty novel you were reading,” Ana said, her eyes dancing with mischief. “Did you bring it in with you?”

“I’m afraid I threw it in the pool.”

Ana’s eyes widened in delight. “You didn’t.”

“I had to. At one point, I swear, the female character had at least three hands.”

Ana giggled and leaned in. “Did any of the characters have parts of their bodies suddenly explode?”

“I believe there was at least one eruption.” Ana’s giggles turned into full out laughter. Peggy couldn’t help smiling at her. “I confess, I started skimming past those parts after the first couple of scenes.”

“Oh, I wish you hadn’t thrown it away,” Ana said, wiping tears from her eyes. “It is so much fun to tease Edwin with such things.”

Peggy did her best not to think about the specifics of that too much, although it was fun to see just how many shades of red the man could turn when embarrassed. She could see why Ana like to make a game of it.

Ana smiled at her and moved a stack of towels closer to her reach.

“I will leave you to your soaking,” she said. “It is probably better that you stay in the bath for longer than you normally might, but I leave it up to you.”

“Thank you again, Ana. Truly. I don’t know what I’d do without you and Mr. Jarvis.”

“That is what friends are for, Miss Carter,” Ana said with a smile and left.

Peggy gave herself a cautious wiggle then sank further into the tub and closed her eyes. This, at least, was a form of relaxation she could cope with.

 

~*~

 

The sun was setting outside the window and Peggy’s fingers were well-pruned when she heard the tell-tale click of Daniel’s crutch entering her room.

“Peggy?”

“In here,” she called.

Daniel’s head peeked cautiously around the corner, like he was afraid she’d snap at him for peeking at her in the bath when he’d already seen her naked more than once. She gave him a small smile and he came in the rest of the way to lean against the sink, his crutch set beside him.

“Did you get everything taken care of at the office?” Peggy asked.

“Yep. I am officially unreachable. Rose is in charge for all of next week and any questions she has can be directed to Jack, who’s probably bored enough with rehab to help out without being asked at this point.”

Peggy smiled. The last time she saw Jack he was practising cutting cards in the most impressive shuffles possible and scowling around his room. “I’m sure they’ll annoy one another like true champions. Did Rose stop smiling at all during the day?”

He chuckled. “I don’t think so. She threatened to redecorate my office while we’re gone, but I’m about 90% sure she was just kidding around.”

“You say that like it would be a bad thing,” Peggy teased.

“Hey, I like the way I have my office set up.” To be fair, Peggy was rather fond of it too. It was so very Daniel.

“I’m glad you left her in charge,” she said.

“There’s no one else in the SSR I trust as much, except for you, and I’m not about to leave you in charge in my absence.”

“Because that would entirely ruin your sexy vacation plans?” Peggy asked, smiling at him coyly.

“Well, that too.” He grinned.

“‘That too’?” Peggy asked.

“You’d have my job out from under me by the time I got back. Can’t let that happen.”

She flicked some water at him and smirked when he jumped. He mock glared at her for a moment and then looked at the milky water covering her in the bathtub.

“Jarvis said your sunbathing didn’t go so well,” he said.

Peggy huffed. “That’s certainly an understatement. I’ll never understand why people seem to enjoy it so much. Is it some form of mass hysteria? I honestly can’t see the appeal.” Daniel chuckled.

“I can see the appeal of you in a swimsuit,” he said.

“Ugh,” Peggy scoffed. “That ridiculous bikini. I rather hope Ana threw it away.”

“I don’t.” He smirked at her and Peggy wrinkled her nose at him.

She leaned over to pull the plug from the drain and stood to rinse the milk off with the handheld shower head connected to the tub. “Hand me that towel, will you?” she asked when she was done.

“Hmm?” He was staring at her with an intensity that made the hairs on her arms stand up.

“Daniel. The towel.”

“What? Oh! Yeah.” He shook himself before leaning over to hand her the towel. “Here.”

His blush was more darling than it had any right to be, but Peggy couldn’t help rolling her eyes at him as she gingerly dried herself off.

“Honestly, Daniel. They’re just breasts, you’ve seen them before.”

“Yeah, but have you? They’re fantastic.”

Peggy flushed, pleased, but rolled her eyes at him again. He was such a man. She pointedly let the towel drop to the floor as she stepped out of the tub and leaned around him rather closer than necessary to get the bottle of aloe vera Ana had left by the sink. His hands predictably gripped her waist, but she hissed as his fingers came into contact with her burned skin. Damn. She hadn’t accounted for that.

“Peg?” He instantly released her, the lust in his eyes replaced by worry before she even had time to blink.

“The burns are, still a little tender, actually. I don’t suppose you could help me with this?” she asked as she held up the bottle.

“Yeah. Of course,” he said, taking it from her. Peggy turned her back to him and he whistled. “I’ve eaten lobsters that weren’t that red,” Daniel quipped. Peggy leveled a glare at him over her shoulder and his expression immediately turned more concerned. “You okay?”

“I’m a bit worried about my ability to actually sit down over the next couple of days. I assume I can perch on things, but that’s not exactly comfortable for the long term. Sleeping should prove interesting.”

“Great timing for a road trip, then,” he said as he opened the bottle.

“Isn’t it?”

“Your tan lines are gonna be ridiculous,” he said as he started smoothing the aloe over her shoulders. The coolness of it made her shiver and she leaned into his touch, even as she decided to goad him.

“You won’t need to look at them if they bother you that much.”

“I didn’t say that,” he said quickly, his hands moving down to the middle of her back and lower, toward her arse where she knew the swimsuit had protected her from burning. A different kind of heat than the one that had been bothering her pooled low in her gut and between her thighs. She turned her head again to look at him over her shoulder. The smug jerk knew exactly what he was doing.

“You’re incorrigible.”

“What? Like this isn’t exactly what you’ve been angling for since I walked in the room?”

“Is it? I’m sure I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You know, for being so good at your job, you’re a terrible liar.”

He cut off her mock-outraged response by taking her arse firmly in both hands and then teasing the tips of his fingers at the very back of her quim. It was far more erotic than it had any right to be. She gasped and he took that as encouragement to start kissing up her neck and nibbling her ear.

“Like I said,” she breathed. “Bloody incorrigible.”

He grinned. “You know you love me.”

She quickly turned away so he couldn’t see the panic on her face.

“I meant, it. It. I-” His hands stilled and then moved up again to rub more ointment across the middle of her back. “Sorry.”

“No. No, don’t be. It’s fine. It’s-” she cleared her throat and let the sentence hang there.

There was an awkward silence between them for a few moments that felt like it lasted an hour. Peggy had no idea what to say or do to regain the flirtatious ease between them. She only knew she wasn’t quite ready to say that.

She knew he loved her. She’d suspected it for ages, but the events of the Isodyne case had proved it to her beyond doubt. And she was terrified.

Either of them could die at any moment. She could hardly stand thinking about it, about losing him like that, but it was true. The world was not a safe place, least of all for anyone in their profession, but it wasn’t only the dreaded prospect of losing him or causing him pain if she died that gave Peggy pause.

What if this relationship succeeded? What if they got married and had children and bought a ridiculous little house in a planned neighborhood like the ones that were being advertised now? What then? Was that really something she wanted? She had no female role models to look up to who successfully balanced such a home life with a dangerous career. All the women she met in her work were career women, spinsters, and the ones who weren’t often quit to stay home after their first or second child, as expected. Peggy couldn’t imagine it. If she’d wanted a quiet life, wanted to stay home with the children and keep house and live to support the ambitions of others she might as well have married Fred.

But Daniel would never expect that of her. He’d made it clear over the course of their friendship just how much he valued her work, her talents. He was currently on the hunt for more qualified female agents for the LA office after the mess with Dottie had proved just how necessary they were. He wouldn’t want her to quit her job if they got married and started a family.

It didn’t keep a small part of her from wondering, though.

“I’m trying not to rush things.” Daniel said quietly. “I know you could have your pick of any guy in the world.”

“Daniel,” Peggy said and turned around completely to face him, placing her hands on his chest, “I don’t want any guy in the world, I want you.” She may not know the specifics of anything else at the moment, but she did know that.

His hands hovered near her waist, not actually touching her anymore. She wished he would. She wished he’d never stop touching her.

“Yeah, well, a guy can’t stay lucky all the time,” he said. Her heart broke at the self-effacing expression he wore. Daniel...

Peggy looped her arms around his shoulders and pressed into him with her body, ignoring the discomforting pull and pinch of her burned skin as she did. She knew she could tell him with her actions what she couldn’t ever seem to manage to do with her words.

“Can’t he?”

“Peggy.”

She twined her fingers through the short hair at the back of his neck and leaned their foreheads together.

“Just because I’m not ready to say it doesn’t mean I never will.”

His hands gripped at her hips where the bikini had protected them and he crashed their mouths together, making her moan. God, but she loved kissing this man.

He kissed her in a way no one else ever had. Fred had made her feel safe and wanted, Steve had made her feel wild and giddy and young, but Daniel kissed her like she was simultaneously the the most precious and the most exciting, intoxicating thing in the world. He made her dizzy with it sometimes, the heady power of knowing he wanted her, in his bed, in his office, in his life.

He started kissing down her neck to nip at her collarbones and the place where her neck met her shoulder, a move he’d learned always made her gasp and push for more. She tangled her fingers more thoroughly into his hair and pulled him up so she could get at his mouth again, making him groan.

Bloody hell, that mouth. That mouth with its smirks and its smart words and its kisses that felt like the best of everything she thought she’d given up hoping for.

Kissing Daniel was like a drug. It made her reckless with wanting him, wanting to kiss him all the time whether they were alone or not. It made her want to rip his shirts off him so she could have better access to grip and lick and kiss at his amazing shoulders and well-toned arms and chest. The fact that he’d stopped wearing undershirts at some point since moving out west only heightened the temptation.

And his hands, they were glorious. Once she finally convinced him he was indeed allowed to touch her anywhere he wanted, his hands became one of her favorite things about him. They always seemed to know exactly where to press, where to grip, where to tease, where to - ah! That stung.

He had forgotten the backs of her legs were burned too and gripped her just under her arse to pull her closer. While normally she would approve of such a move, it currently hurt enough to pull her right out of the moment.

“Daniel.”

He hummed in response and started kissing his way down to her breasts, taking a nipple in his mouth and teasing it with his teeth and tongue. One of his hands quickly came up to caress the other breast, pinching and rolling its nipple between his fingers in tandem with his mouth.

“Ah! Daniel!”

Her cries only seemed to encourage him, and the hand still near her arse moved back up to squeeze it firmly. Her quim pulsed in anticipation. Oh, sod her sunburn. What was a little pain when she could have Daniel Sousa in her bed? Besides, it might just enhance the experience.

“Daniel, perhaps we should - ah! Perhaps we should move this to the bed?”

He looked up at her with lust-blown eyes and nodded.

They both somehow managed to trip over his crutch on their way out of the bathroom and Daniel impatiently kicked it aside as they stumbled into the bedroom.

“You gonna - mm - be okay on the bed?” he asked between kisses as she stripped him of his blazer.

Peggy spun him so his back was toward the bed and then pushed him onto it, immediately attacking the buttons of his shirt. “I’ll manage.”

His hands returned to her hips and he kissed along her collarbones, nipping at her skin in the way she loved. She finally divested him of his shirt, smoothing her hands across his shoulders and down his back as he mouthed at the undersides of her breasts and down her stomach in a pattern she already recognized after mere weeks of sleeping with him.

“Daniel. Trousers off first.”

He looked up at her and grinned. His hands flew to his belt buckle and Peggy took a step back to watch as he quickly undid the harness for his prosthesis and shed it and his trousers and pants in a few practiced, if somewhat careless, motions. The false leg fell to the floor with a loud thunk despite the bundle of clothing surrounding it. His socks and remaining shoe quickly followed it.

Now that both of them were finally naked, Peggy straddled him on the bed and kissed him the dirtiest way she knew how. He groaned and rolled them so Peggy was lying on the bed beneath him.

“Still okay?” he asked when she flinched at the bedspread coming into contact with her back.

“Fine.”

“Peggy.”

“I’m fine. I can cope with a little discomfort for you.” Daniel frowned and started to shift off of her, prompting her to wrap her legs around his hips to keep him in place. She couldn’t hide a slight grimace as the backs of her legs came into contact with his back.

“Peg, you’re not fine.”

“It’s just a sunburn.”

“That clearly hurts like hell.”

“I’ll manage. Get back here.”

“Peggy, I don’t want to hurt you.”

She collapsed backwards with a huffed sigh, annoyed at his chivalry. “Damn Howard,” she muttered.

Daniel reared back, his face utterly baffled. “Um. Peggy?”

“It’s his fault I’ve got this blasted sunburn.”

“I thought you got it reading a book. And I’d really rather not think about Howard Stark when we’re both naked in bed with his portrait hanging on the wall,” Daniel said, looking a little put off. Peggy glanced over his shoulder at the portrait she generally did her best to ignore and resisted the urge to cover herself.

“You’re right. Where were we?” she asked, reaching for him again.

“Peggy.”

“Daniel, I’ve just spent the day reading a terribly written erotic novel when I’d much rather have been with you. Are you really suggesting we let something as trivial as a sunburn get in the way of something we both clearly want?”

To emphasize her point she rocked her hips up into his, rubbing herself along his hard length. He shuddered.

“You have got to be the most obstinate woman I’ve ever met,” he said.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You would,” he said, grinning.

He kissed her again, slow and deep and she couldn’t help rocking up into him a few times before he pulled away again, gasping.

“Are the condoms...?”

“Still in the bedside table.”

He rolled off her and leaned over to dig through the drawer, his foot back on the floor for balance.

“I’m afraid to ask if you’ve been the one replacing them or Jarvis.”

“Then don’t. Just put one on and get back over here.”

“It never fails to amaze me how you somehow get even bossier when we’re in bed,” he said, ripping open the little packet he found.

Peggy scoffed. “I’m not bossy. I simply know what I want.”

“I never said it was a bad thing,” he said, grinning. He raised an eyebrow at her. “You gonna stay all the way over there?”

It was only then that Peggy realized she was still lying across the bed parallel to the footboard, which she could easily reach out and touch.

“I could.” She shrugged her shoulder even as she moved to crawl closer to him. Her sunburn flared up again, as persistently annoying as ever. She must not have hidden her grimace well enough because Daniel was giving her that considering look again. Instead of saying anything, though, he grabbed a pillow and met her in the middle of the bed, kneeling with his left leg and using the pillow to prop up the stump of his right. He took her face in his hands and kissed her gently when she reached him, making butterflies flutter in her stomach, which was ridiculous as naked as they were.

She tried to deepen the kiss, but he kept it light and then pulled away, his thumbs brushing softly across her cheekbones.

“Turn around,” he whispered.

“What?”

“Trust me. I have an idea.”

She gave him a skeptical look, but he wasn’t trying to put a stop to anything yet again, so she turned so she was kneeling in front of him. He moved her hair over one shoulder and began kissing the back of her neck and down across her shoulder blades. She shivered in response. The light pressure from his lips both irritated her skin and titillated her.

His hands pulled at her hips and she obliged him by scooting backward until she was sitting on his lap, her legs spread to either side of his. She felt bared and open and vulnerable, and there was no place she’d rather be than here with him behind her.

“Think your sunburn can handle this?”

The backs of her legs were on fire and her shoulders itched where they brushed against his chest hair.

“Yes,” she breathed.

He guided her backward until she felt the tip of his cock press at her entrance and she sank down greedily, wanting nothing more in that moment than to feel him inside her.

They rocked together and Daniel’s hands cupped her breasts and stroked down her stomach to tease her button, making her thighs shake as he thrust up into her. Before long their pace increased and Peggy fell forward onto her hands for balance, grasping the bedspread hard between her fingers. Daniel took the opportunity to grip her hips and thrust harder and she gasped, her breath coming out in quiet cries as he kept hitting that spot inside her that made her see stars, pushing her nearer and nearer to completion with each thrust.

She buried her face in the bedspread and came with a muffled cry. Daniel lasted a few more thrusts before he stiffened behind her and grunted, his forehead coming down to rest on her back as he panted against her overheated skin.

When they could move again, both trembling on fawn-like limbs, Daniel disposed of the condom and they eased themselves up to the headboard to collapse in a heap, Peggy’s head finding its favorite resting place on Daniel’s chest.

“That was a much more satisfactory end to this day than I expected,” Peggy murmured.

Daniel chuckled and stroked her hair, making her hum in pleasure.

“I never did finish putting that stuff on you,” Daniel said after a moment’s silence.

“No,” Peggy sighed, her eyes already closing, “but that would involve you getting out of the bed. I don’t want to move.”

He laughed at her again and she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head. She hummed and cuddled closer. Seven days of nothing but this surrounded by clean mountain air and the scent of the forest. Peggy thought she could certainly stomach that for the rest of her vacation.

She smiled as the steady thrum of his heartbeat under her ear quickly lulled her to sleep.

 


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Peggy awoke ravenous.

They’d skipped dinner the night before while they were so entirely wrapped up in each other, and now she was paying for it with a pang in her belly competing for her attention with the hot, pinching discomfort of her sunburn.

It was distractingly unpleasant.

Daniel was still asleep beside her, snuffling softly with his head half-buried in the pillow. She noticed that the trail of his clothes from last night had been tidied and draped over a chair he must have pulled from her dressing room. His prosthetic and crutch were both carefully propped in easy reach against the bedside table. A peek through the open bathroom door showed her that her towel from last night had been picked up and hung to dry.

She huffed a quiet laugh. One of these days she’d actually catch Daniel at his post-sex tidying, but he always seemed to wait until she was either asleep or out of the room.

Peggy gazed at him fondly for a moment, then crept out of bed so as not to wake him. Behind the closed bathroom door, Peggy washed her hair in the sink then set it in the pattern of curls she knew she could maintain for the better part of a week in the wilderness, stubbornly fighting her hunger and the painful pinch of her burn so as not to get impatient and sloppy with the pins. A bad set would be almost worse than none at all. After a quick application of makeup for decency’s sake, she put on a slip and her silk robe before finally heading out of her room to raid the kitchen, her stomach grumbling ever louder in protest as she did.

When she attempted to pass through the dining room, Howard was already at the table nursing a cup of coffee and wearing little more than a silk robe of his own and a massive pair of bags under his eyes. He smirked when he saw her.

“Have a good night?”

Peggy straightened her shoulders and pulled the ties of her robe sharply to tighten them. “No thanks to you or your appalling taste in literature,” she said and sat down across from him. She immediately gasped in pain and scooted forward so she was perching on the edge of her chair instead of sitting in it fully.

Why did the sunburn have to be on the backs of her legs too?

“I never said it was literature.” He took a sip of his coffee and leered at her, his eyes raking up and down what he could see of her body. “That from your burn or your frolics with the not-so-honorable chief? I saw his car’s in the driveway. Again. Nice hair, by the way.”

Peggy’s hand flew to her hair, double checking the integrity of the pins. He smirked and she glared at him, confiscating the entire plate of toast on the table to start eating it herself.

“It’s a very bad burn,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster. “And what Daniel and I do or don’t do is none of your business. Not that you’ve any room to talk about being honorable.”

“Because all you were doing last night is playing cribbage.”

Instead of answering, Peggy made herself a jam sandwich and proceeded to eat it as quickly as possible. For some perverse reason, starting to eat was only making her hungrier.

“Look, all kidding aside, I like the guy,” Howard said. “I’d like him a little better if he’d let me look at that leg of his, but he clearly makes you happy. So I’m happy for you. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen you smile so much since I met you.”

She looked at him for a moment and saw that he was in earnest, which meant a lot coming from him. He knew more of her history than possibly anyone else alive. “He does make me happy,” she said with a small smile.

“Good,” he said, nodding absently. “Then you can have the wedding here.”

Peggy choked on the bite of toast she’d just taken and flew into a coughing fit that brought tears to her eyes.

“Miss Carter!”

Suddenly Jarvis was there, gently pounding on her back and offering her a glass of water when she managed to get her breathing under control.

“Are you alright, Miss Carter?”

“Fine. I’m fine, thank you,” she said to Jarvis, gulping from the glass. She glared at Howard. “We’re not getting married.”

Jarvis shot up straight and then looked back and forth between Peggy and Howard, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“I’m sorry. Did I miss something?” he asked.

“I just told Peg she and her boy could get married here at the house and she had a fit,” Howard said, the seriousness of his voice belying the mischievous twinkle in his eye. “You’d think my hospitality isn’t good enough for her or something.”

“Miss Carter, truly?” Jarvis asked, his entire person sparkling in excitement. “I knew you and Chief Sousa would make a fantastic pair if you gave it a chance, but I had no idea the two of you were already as serious as that!”

“We’re not,” she said. She felt guilty when his shoulders slumped in disappointment so she kicked Howard under the table, smiling in triumph at the pained look he shot at her. “We’re together and we’re happy and there’s nothing that needs to change about that. We’re perfectly fine as we are.”

“Ehhh,” Jarvis pulled a face that clearly told her he disagreed with her. Peggy clunked her water glass down on the table and turned to face him more fully.

“What?”

“There are… certain benefits to being married that you can only fully grasp after you’ve tied the knot, so to speak.”

“She and Chief Pegleg are already enjoying some of those benefits,” Howard said, leering. Peggy glared at him.

“Those are not the benefits to which I am referring,” Jarvis said primly. “Though they are certainly not to be discounted. No, there is an intimacy, a - well, a sense of home, of belonging, which simply does not exist prior to your signatures sitting side by side on that piece of paper. There is a security in the responsibility of knowing you have someone to rely on who relies on you as well.”

“Sounds terrifying,” Howard said.

“Yes, to you I’m sure it is, sir,” Jarvis agreed.

Peggy shrugged her shoulders. “Daniel and I already rely on each other. We’ve both proved we’re willing to put the other first in almost anything. Which can be rather a liability in our line of work,” she trailed off for a moment, then shook her head slightly and looked Jarvis in the eye. “I fail to see how a piece of paper would amplify that in any way.”

“Be that as it may, I do maintain that there is a difference.”

Peggy bit the inside of her lip but didn’t respond. Of all the marriages she had witnessed in her life, Jarvis and Ana’s was the one that was most similar to what she hoped for for herself, in those moments she allowed herself to actually think of it at all. Even her parents’ marriage hadn’t seemed as stable and loving. It certainly wasn’t as mutually supportive, much as she knew her parents loved each other. But as wonderful as she knew the Jarvises’ marriage was, she also knew it existed on a deep foundation of heartbreak and loss she didn’t envy them at all. Was she truly ready to completely open herself up to that after everything she’d already been through?

His lecture to them done, Jarvis went about serving them at the table, bringing platters of eggs and sausages that made Peggy’s mouth water and Howard look a little ill, and a perfectly brewed pot of tea Peggy seized the moment he set it down.

Halfway through breakfast, Peggy heard Daniel’s crutch click down the hallway and her hand made an abortive motion toward her hair that wound up dropping egg into her lap.

“Damn,” she muttered. Her mother’s voice in her head chided her that this was no way to attract and hold on to a man.

Howard snickered at her.

She kicked him hard enough to actually scoot his chair back an inch and did the best she could to clean herself up before Daniel entered the room.

“Good morning,” Daniel said, looking unfairly put together in yesterday’s clothes.

“Chief,” Howard said, smirking. “Looking forward to your vacation?”

“I am,” he said, sitting down in a chair next to Peggy and shooting her a smile in greeting as he served himself from the table. She felt those damn butterflies come to life in her stomach again at his grin and hoped they didn’t show on her face as she smiled back. “Never thought I’d actually want to go camping after the war, but it’ll be nice to get away from everything for a few days. And I’ve heard the forests out here are just spectacular. It’s past time I should’ve gone out to actually see one of them.”

“I’ve heard the same. I suppose it’s all well and good if you like that sort of thing,” Howard said. The look on his face made it plain that he did not.

“Really, Howard, nature is not that bad,” Peggy said.

“Nature’s for the beasts. I’m fortunate enough to not need to join them in it.”

“And if a lady you were pursuing was interested in nature that way?” Daniel asked.

Howard shrugged, a lecherous twinkle coming to his eye. “Well, we all have to make the occasional sacrifice for love.”

Peggy rolled her eyes and glanced over at Daniel who was looking at Howard with an expression she couldn’t quite pin down. She’d done her best to largely keep them away from one another as she knew their temperaments were not aligned, and between their work and Howard’s erratic schedule she was mostly successful. Still, she’d never actually asked Daniel what he thought of her oldest friend.

“I’d think you’d appreciate the chance to be secluded with someone,” Daniel said, calmly cutting into the food on his plate. “No phones, no chance to be interrupted...”

“Trust me, with some women you want the chance to be interrupted,” Howard said, eyebrow raised. “Some of them don’t quite get when it’s over, if you get my meaning.”

Peggy scoffed and took a drink of her tea so as not to say anything rude.

Daniel shrugged. “Maybe for them it wasn’t over yet. If you get my meaning.”

Peggy smirked. From the hallway she heard what sounded suspiciously like a choked off laugh. Jarvis came in a moment later with a fresh pot of coffee, the picture of professionalism.

“You’re a cheeky son of a bitch, aren’t you, Chief?” Howard said, his eyes narrowed calculatingly. Daniel quirked an eyebrow at him and chewed his eggs. Howard smiled. “I like that about you.”

“Glad you approve,” Daniel said dryly.

“So what are you two planning to do out in all that wilderness for a week? There’s only so much time you can spend with your trousers off, even if you do have the endurance for it.”

“We’ll enjoy nature,” Peggy said. “We might even talk to each other for a while. Get to know each other better outside the office.”

“And you said sunbathing by my pool was boring.”

“There’s sightseeing and hiking too if that’s too sedate for you,” Daniel said.

Howard’s eyes sharpened and he looked at Daniel challengingly. “Can you hike much on that leg?”

“I do alright.”

“You know, if you let me look at it I could-”

“No,” Daniel said shortly.

“-make some improvements. Those prosthetics the VA hands out can mostly do the job, but they’re not the best out there. They’re made of wood, for fuck’s sake.”

“Mine’s aluminum.”

“Big difference, I’m sure. You’ve still gotta use that crutch with it so it can’t be that good.”

“I do alright,” Daniel said.

“All I’d need is some measurements. I could have it done by the time you got back.”

“No.”

Howard sighed like a disaffected toddler and stood, throwing his napkin down on the table. “Well, if I can’t convince you, I have some other work to finish that doesn’t need anyone’s approval first. Have a good trip and all that. Oh, and I had Jarvis pack some extra protection for you crazy kids. You know, from bears and such.”

Peggy eyed him suspiciously as he left. Howard’s smirk intimated something dirty, but he was just as likely to have actually made them something intended to protect them from the local wildlife.

“I’m not sure I want to know what he thinks of as appropriate protection,” Daniel said.

“Knowing Howard, it could be anything,” Peggy said.

“Think he’d notice if we just forgot to use whatever it is?”

Peggy smiled at him and finished her tea. With uncanny timing, Jarvis reentered the dining room the moment she put the cup back down in its saucer and stood to butler-y attention at the end of the table.

“Chief Sousa, I’ve taken the liberty of loading everything you and Miss Carter will need for your trip into your car,” he said.

Daniel stared at him blankly. “You-”

“The tent, food, sleeping bags, and all the gear you should need on your trip are all ready to go. I’ve also taken the liberty of leaving backpacks and a selection of new, freshly laundered, camping appropriate clothing for each of you to choose from to take with you in Miss Carter's room.”

Daniel blinked at him dumbly.

“Really, Mr. Jarvis, that wasn’t necessary,” Peggy said, even as she knew what his reply would be.

“It is no trouble at all,” he said before his expression turned wry and he levelled her with a knowing look. “I was hardly going to give you the opportunity to do it yourself, injured as you are.”

“Injured? It’s a sunburn, not an open wound!”

“Even so,” he said. She recognized the look on his face as similar to the one he wore when Howard was being impossible.

Peggy rolled her eyes and let the matter drop. “Thank you, Mr. Jarvis. We do need to leave soon if we’re to get there and set up camp before dark.”

“Quite so,” he said. Peggy wanted to pinch him for the smug look on his face, but refrained. “Let me know if there’s anything else you require before you leave.”

“Of course, Mr. Jarvis. And we’ll be sure to say goodbye to Ana on our way out.”

He shot her a relieved smile. “Thank you for that. I’m sure she’d be impossible all week if you didn’t.”

 

~*~

 

The ride up to the park took a decade. Or, at least, that’s what Peggy’s sunburn told her.

She had gotten used to long, arduous trips during the war, often in unpleasant conditions. Quite often in some degree of pain even. But apparently she had become accustomed to a somewhat cushier life in the intervening years, because the car ride out of Los Angeles felt like a minor form of torture.

Daniel absolutely couldn’t know.

They arrived at the park mid-afternoon and found a suitably remote place to set up their camp an hour and half after that. Both of them were eager to get out of the car and stretch their legs, so they simply stood together by the side of the car for a few minutes inhaling the clean scent of wood and dirt and nature and staring at the beauty of the trees around them. Peggy breathed a soft sigh of relief.

“This was a good idea,” Daniel said, his voice a low rumble amongst the sounds of birds and squirrels and the wind in the distance.

Peggy hummed in agreement and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath of the mountain air and letting her shoulders relax on the exhale. It had been too long since she’d allowed herself to enjoy nature this way and it felt remarkably good to do so again.

“Right,” Peggy said eventually, straightening her posture and eyeing the landscape more critically. “I think if we set up the tent over there with the entrance facing the car we should be able to avoid any flooding if it rains.”

“I’ll set it up if you do the heavy lifting,” Daniel said.

Peggy grinned. “Deal,” she said, and they set to work.

Daniel was quicker with the tent than she expected; he drove the final stake into the ground to secure it just as Peggy hauled the last of their food supplies out of the boot of the car.

“It feels a bit like cheating camping so close to the car,” Peggy said.

“It feels a bit like cheating using a tent,” Daniel said, eyebrow raised. “There were some nights in the war I’d have given up my last ration to have something this grand to sleep under.”

“Mm. I guess I was rather spoiled for most of the war. Manning the communications centers does tend to require at least some form of roof over one’s head, even it’s just a tarp tied to a tree.”

“Yeah, you were quite the pampered princess. A whole tarp.”

They grinned at each other and went about setting up the rest of the campsite. Daniel found a folding table with adjustable legs in their supplies, along with a small propane stove, a dutch oven, two complete aluminum mess kits, and a full service of enamel dishware for eight, though what on earth they’d need with that last, Peggy had no idea. He set up their cooking area while Peggy rigged up a rope system in a tree a half dozen yards away from their tent to string up their food in a bag so any bears in the area wouldn’t get any ideas about stealing it.

When everything was set up, they sat down in the surprisingly sturdy collapsible chairs Peggy found in the car and looked out on the view. She did her best not to squirm in discomfort.

Daniel watched her for a few moments, which only made her want to squirm even more.

“You know, I never did finish putting that stuff on you,” he said. “If that burn on your back is as bad as it looked last night it’s gotta still sting.”

Peggy bit her lip. On the one hand, confessing to the level of pain she was in would make him feel bad for listening to her when she insisted on eating lunch in the car instead of stopping to stretch out and care for her burn. On the other, if she kept mum she might be missing out on an opportunity for a massage. And Daniel did have very nice hands…

“It does still hurt. A little.”

“You want me to help you with that?”

“If you’re offering.”

He levered himself up to stand in front of her and gave her a look that made her want to bite him.

“Maybe you should get in the tent then.”

She did not scramble out of her chair and into the tent. That would have been unladylike. Nor did she hurry out of her boots and clothes once she was inside. She had no idea what Daniel was laughing at, the jerk.

Howard had provided them with an astonishingly stable self-filling air mattress Daniel didn’t trust in the slightest, but which felt too luxurious not to use, especially as it came complete with the heavenly bedding used in all of Howard’s residences. It was worth losing all but a foot of the tent’s floor space to. Peggy crawled onto it and lay down on her front, blinking coyly back at Daniel as he worked his own boots off his feet. He just grinned and shook his head at her, fishing the bottle of aloe vera from one of their bags and awkwardly flopping down next to her. She felt utterly wanton laying next to him nude while he was still fully-dressed.

He teased the fingers of one hand down her shoulder, making goose pimples rise on her arms. The look in his eyes made the butterflies in her stomach wake up and dance a very energetic jitterbug.

“You’re gorgeous like this,” he said. She fought the urge to wriggle in embarrassment.

“What? Red as a lobster?”

Daniel huffed out a laugh. “Yeah. It brings out how pale the rest of you is.”

“I’m not as pale as I was when I first got to California. I’ve the tan lines to prove it.”

“You mean these?” Daniel asked, tracing the lines her bikini had left on her back before smoothing his hands more fully across the skin of her back. Just as it had the night before, the coolness of the aloe next to the heat of the rest of her skin made her shiver.

“Among others,” she breathed, laying down fully to let him work on her.

Daniel smoothed his hands down her back in continuous, flowing motions Peggy quickly lost track of. All she felt was heaven over her muscles and relaxation seeping into her bones.

“Mm. Where on earth did you learn to do this so well?”

Daniel huffed a laugh. “I don’t think you want to know.”

“Why? Ex-lover?”

Daniel hesitated, then said, “Yeah.”

Peggy sighed as his hands rubbed over a particularly tense spot. “I know you’ve had lovers before me, Daniel, I’m not upset about it.” She paused a moment, debating whether or not to ask and then deciding she may as well. “Was it Violet?”

“No, actually. A French girl I stepped out with a couple times during the war. Her house got hit three days after the last time I saw her. No survivors.”

Peggy made a sympathetic sound and tried not to think too hard about all the people she used to know who died in a similar manner. Then she thought about the descriptor he’d used for the poor girl.

“A French girl?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“This wouldn’t happen to be the same French girl who was responsible for your very impressive hickeys, would it?”

Daniel laughed and Peggy could actually hear him blushing.

“Um, no. That was a different French girl.”

“Daniel Sousa!” Peggy twisted around enough so she could see him. His face was red and he wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Are you telling me you had multiple women hanging off you during the war?”

“Not at the same time. Besides, it was a long war.”

Peggy hummed and smirked at him when he finally darted his eyes up to hers. “I didn’t know you were such a heartbreaker. If my mother knew she’d warn me off you. You could be out to wreck my virtue.”

Daniel dragged his hands down the small of her back, over her arse, and down her thighs before sliding them slowly back up again. Her quim pulsed and she gasped, her relaxation from earlier seeping away as lust coiled in her gut.

“I’m pretty sure we’ve already defiled that particular virtue,” he said.

“We could make certain.”

He grinned, but pushed gently on her shoulder to encourage her to lay back down. “We’ve got all week for that. Let me at least finish this once before we move on to that kind of fun.”

Peggy pouted at him before she acquiesced with a contented sigh. He really did have the most remarkable hands.

This time he started with her legs, massaging the aloe vera into the thigh of one leg before moving on to her calf and lingering there to work out the tension caused by so much time in high heels. She hummed in pleasure.

It was as he was working his way down to the other calf that they heard the sound of a car driving along the dirt road near their campsite.

They both stilled as they listened for the car to keep moving down the road, but it sounded like it was pulling off to the clearing near their campsite. The sounds of the engine turning off and multiple car doors slamming shut only confirmed it.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Daniel said.

“Maybe they’re just lost and want directions.” She didn’t believe it herself, but one of them had to be the optimist in this situation.

“Then they should learn how to read a map.”

“Daniel.”

“The entire point of coming camping was to be alone. We can’t do that if we’ve got neighbors a stone’s throw away from our tent.”

Peggy turned onto her side and laid her hand on his knee. His scowl of annoyance shifted as she shared a disappointed look with him.

“Surely they won’t be here all week,” she said.

His gaze travelled down her body, taking on more than a little regret. “We can only hope.”

They both let out gusting sighs and turned away from each other to prepare to leave the tent. Peggy managed to get as far as buttoning her shirt by the time Daniel got his boots tied, but then he wasn’t moving as quickly as she was either. She knee-walked over to him and draped herself over his shoulders.

“It’s not the end of the world, Daniel.”

“No, just of my plans for the rest of the evening.”

“We’d have had to leave the tent soon to start dinner anyway.”

“Yeah, but now you have to put on pants.”

Peggy pushed away from him, jostling his shoulders, and flopped back onto the mattress. Then she hissed in pain.

“Ugh! This blasted sunburn!”

“I’ll kiss it better later,” Daniel said, smiling fondly down at her.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“You’re still not wearing any pants,” he said, ogling the line of her legs.

“I am so. It’s trousers I’m missing.”

“Potayto, potahto.”

“Let’s not call it off, please. I rather like having you in my life.”

The look on Daniel’s face turned absolutely soppy. Peggy was certain she was about to get the sweetest snog of her life before a twig snapped mere yards away from their tent.

“Hello? Anybody there?” an unfamiliar voice called out.

“How long do you think it would take someone to find a dead body in the woods?” she asked. Daniel smirked at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, fair warning, it'll probably take me a bit longer to get the next chapter out because it's only partially written and I've been having a weird time lately. But I will get it out! I haven't gotten to my favorite parts yet!


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